City Harvest church founder Kong Hee and 4 others arrested
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So, the truth has finally surface...
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Huh
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Maybe he thinks 3 days after lockup the gate will auto open for him also huehuehue
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CITY HARVEST CHURCH LEADERS TRIAL
Former CHC board member
says Serina Wee (right)
told him:Sun Ho's albums
would make
millionsSHE KNEW: Former church accountant Serlna Wee arriving at the State Courts yesterday. Her eo-accused John Lam says that Wee had withheld financial Information from him. TNP PHOTO: GARY GOH
Reports by RONALD LOH
She is svelte, almost fragile.
But co-accused John Lam sought to paint Serina Wee in a different light yesterday.
It was she who projected Sun Ho's albums would make millions.
And when he wanted details how, it was Wee who did not respond to his doubts.
Lam, 46, and Wee, along'with City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee and three other church leaders are accused of misusing more than $50 million of church money through sham bonds. (See report at right.)
Some of this money was allegedly used to fund Ms Ho's music career. She is married to Kong, 49.
In the ongoing trial, Lam said music production firm Xtron - which managed Ho's music career - had projected the singer would be a big hit in the US.
Ms Ho was the face of the megachurch's programme meant to reach out to non-Christians through her secular music albwns.
Lam said Xtron had projected she would amass $16 million in 2011 and $23 million the following year through her American album sales.
But Lam, then a CHC board member, said he had his doubts over the company's projected sales.
When he learnt that the release of her album in the US would be delayed in May 2008, he said he wanted to review the value of Xtron.
He then received the projected sales figures from fellow accused and former church finance manager Wee, 37, who also proVided accounting services to Xtron.
"The big test will be to convince the auditor that we can get album sales of 16 million and 23 million in 2011 and 2012," Lam had written in reply to Wee in a 2008 e-mail, which was read out in court yesterday by his lawyer, Senior Counsel Kenneth Tan.
Lam said he had asked Wee to justify the number of albums that would be sold, the status of the album production and the sales volume as compared to other original artistes at the time.
But he said Wee had replied that "the information... is not ready yet" and there was no further correspondence in the next few days.
The album was never released.
OTHER DOUBTS
On another occasion, in May 2008, Lam said he was the only board member to say no to the purchase of the Riverwalk property meant for church-related activities and meetings.
He said did not vote to go ahead with the purchase because he saw no need to rush into the decision, and he had not seen the indicative valuation.
Lam also told the court he had no prior knowledge of the possibility of the church investing in a bond issued by glass manufacturing company Firna.
Lam said the first time he learnt of the impending Firna deal was when co-accused Chew Eng Han, who was then CHC's fund manager, told him about it at a cafe below (audit firm) Baker Tilly director Foong Daw Ching's office.
"He said that he is going to be explaining to Foong about all these plans. I (took) it he's infohning me. if ... there be any ... accounting ... or asset impairment issues, I might have to answer," he said.
ABOUT THE CASE
City Harvest Church (CHC) founder Kong Hee, 49, and five others are on trial for allegedly misusing more than $50 million of church funds through sham bonds.
This includes $24 million to fund Kong's pop singer-wife Sun Ho's music career, and another $26.6 million to cover up the first amount.
They are said to have done this through two companies run by longtime supporters of the megachurch - music production firm Xtron and glass manufacturer Firna.
Kong, former board member John Lam, 46, finance manager Sharon Tan, 38, former investment manager Chew Eng Han, 54, deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, 41, and former finance manager Serina Wee, 37, face varying charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and/or falsifying accounts.
The defence started its case on Monday, with Lam the first to take the stand.
Prosecutors had sought to show how Xtron and Firna directors had simply done the bidding of the accused and rubberstamped deals.
Meanwhile, the defence has argued that the transactions were legitimate, with the six accused acting "in good faith" on the advice of lawyers and auditors.
News, The New Paper, Wednesday, July 16 2014, Pg 10
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Still ongoing?
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Yes
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.
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Liew, they now trying to push the charges to serina wee becoz she more famous and getting more attention then horse face?
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she gets all the blames coz fifi could sing ANGMO TEH TARIK better than the wife
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how ah now ?
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CITY HARVEST CHURCH LEADERS TRIAL
ABOUT THE CASE
City Harvest Church (CHC) founder Kong Hee, 49, and five others are on trial for allegedly misusing more than $50 million of church funds through sham bonds.
This includes $24 million to fund Kong's pop singer-wife Sun Ho's music career, and another $26.6 million to cover up the first amount.
They are said to have done this through two companies run by longtime supporters of the megachurch - music production firm Xtron and glass manufacturer Firna.
Kong, former board member John Lam, 46, finance manager Sharon Tan, 38, former investment manager Chew Eng Han, 54, deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, 41, and former finance manager Serina Wee, 37, face varying charges of criminal breach of trust and/or falsifying accounts.
Prosecutors had sought to show how Xtron and Firna directors had simply done the bidding of the accused and rubber-stamped deals.
Meanwhile, the defence has argued that the transactions were legitimate, with the six accused acting "In good faith" on the advice of lawyers and auditors.
With 32,500 copies sitting on shelves, church spends ...
$500,000
to buy Sun Ho's
unsold albumsIN COURT: Former CHC board member John Lam and former CHC finance manager Serlna Wee yesterday. TNP PHOTOS: KIAT TAN
Reports by RONALD LOH
She was supposed to become a global superstar and then use her popularity to spread the church's message.
But the reality was that Ms Ho Yeow Sun, who uses the stage name Sun Ho, had many unsold albums.
So much so that City Harvest Church (CHC) spent close to half-a-million dollars to buy back 32,500 of her Mandarin albums languishing on shelves in Taiwan, Indonesia and the US in 2004.
The prosecution yesterday revealed these details, which were in an e-mail by former CHC finance manager Serina Wee, as the trial against six of the megachurch's leaders resumed after a two week break.
Wee, CHC founder Kong Hee, and four others, are accused of misusing more than $50. million of church money through sham bonds. (See report above.)
Some of this money was allegedly used to fund the music career of Ms Ho, who is married to Kong, 49.
Former board member John Lam, 46, is the first accused to take the stand for the defence.
Yesterday, when Chief Prosecutor Mavis Chionh showed the unsold-album figures to Lam during the cross-examination, be claimed he did not realise at the time that Ms Ho's album sales were doing badly.
He said he was merely asked to find a way for CHC to avoid paying the 5 per cent GST while buying back Ms Ho's unsold albums and he had not "connected" the facts. ·
Ms Chionh rebutted: "Your last few answers are incredible lies and you are lying because you are desperate to maintain that Sun Ho's albums were doing well."
She also pointed out that Lam had earlier admitted that Ms Ho's artist management company, Xtron, was not profitable.
Yet he was involved in purchasing $13 million of Xtron bonds"' which were rated as "junk bonds", because he believed Ms Ho's albums would do well, she said.
Xtron is one of two companies accused of helping the megachurch's leaders to funnel church funds illegally to bankroll, the pastor-singer's music career. It managed Ms Ho from 2003 to 2008.
Said Ms Chionh: "The truth is that you knew that the bonds were not meant as aa investment at all. They were a sham device that you and your co-accused came up with to find a way of moving money from the (church's) Building Fund to pay for Sun Ho's music career," she said.
Lam said he disagreed.
The prosecution also continued its argument that Xtron was not an independent entity and was linked to the church.
As an example, Ms Chionh pointed out that Lam and other church members would donate their tithes - or monthly offerings - to Xtron instead of CHC.
DONATIONS
When asked if Lam considered his donations to the company as "fulfilment" to the church, he said: "Yes, I would say so."
Said Ms Chionh: "For that treatment to be possible, it necessarily implies a very close relationship between the church and Xtron, right? So close in fact that money going to one is treated the same as money going to the other."
Lam said that it was his choice to donate to Xtron as it was managing the church's Crossover Project - fronted by Ms Ho - to evangelise to non-converts through secular pop music.
Ms Chionh also questioned Lam on the need to omit Xtron's name from the minutes of a CHC board meeting.
"(It) was really so that you could hide anything that might lead your auditors then to say: 'But how is the Crossover being funded? Is the church funding the Crossover through Xtron?'," she said.
Again, Lam said he disagreed.
Yesterday's hearing was also characterised by Ms Chionh asking Lam to answer her questions on at least four occasions.
"If we are to finish your cross-examination sometime this week, you must answer the question and not go off on a tangent talking about other audits and other people," She said at one point.
The trial continues today.
News, The New Paper, Tuesday, August 5 2014, Pg 11
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Still ongoing
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Update update. please more update.
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Drag on until next year?
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rwq
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Who are you?
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When verdict?
Want see how many going to changi villa.
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Wait for another 20 more years.
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,.
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Who are you?
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Drag on until next year?
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Yes.
So who are you?
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